


Messages and Misunderstandings

by MyOwnSuperintendent



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 03:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3341279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyOwnSuperintendent/pseuds/MyOwnSuperintendent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is bothering Ned.  Catelyn tries to figure out what it is--but the answer is not what she expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Messages and Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own A Song of Ice and Fire or anything related to it. Hope you enjoy!

Something was bothering Ned.

Most people would have probably wondered how Catelyn could tell. Ned was serious by nature, and it wasn’t as though he usually walked around with a huge grin on his face. But she hadn’t been married to him for sixteen years for nothing; she could tell what he was feeling pretty well by now. He was definitely preoccupied by something, although, in this particular case, she had no idea what it might be.

At first she didn’t say anything to him. When something was bothering her, she usually wanted to talk about it right away, but Ned had a different approach. He liked to think things over by himself for a while, eventually confiding in her if the problem didn’t go away quickly. If it were something really big, something that she needed to know about, she felt certain that he would have told her already. As it was, she would give him time if he needed it.

Several days went by, though, and Ned still didn’t tell her what was bothering him. Catelyn could tell that whatever it was, it was still very much on his mind, and she was beginning to be concerned. Ned shouldn’t have to worry alone. She didn’t want to make him talk to her if he really didn’t want to, but at the same time she knew that talking often helped him. She finally decided that she would bring it up that night. She wouldn’t push him, but she would ask him if something was on his mind and let him know that she was happy to listen to whatever it was.

Catelyn waited until all the kids had gone to sleep and she and Ned were ready for bed themselves. As he joined her under the covers, she laid a hand on his arm. “Ned, is there something bothering you?”

Ned was silent for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was quiet. “Yes.”

“If you want to talk to me about it,” Catelyn said, “you know that I’m here to listen.” Ned was quiet for another moment, and she was about to tell him that they didn’t have to talk about it when he spoke up again.

“We should talk about it,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how to bring it up, but we should.”

“Well, I’m all ears,” Catelyn said.

Ned took a breath. “I’m sorry, Catelyn, but I just can’t do those kinds of things. I know that it’s all…well, that it’s not real and that it’s what both people want to do, but that’s the thing. I don’t want to. I can’t even think about doing those kinds of things to you.”

Catelyn was flummoxed. “Ned, what are you talking about?”

“I can’t hit you,” Ned said. He looked very upset, and Catelyn was torn between concern for him and utter confusion. “Or anything like that. Even if you ask me to, Cat, the idea of doing it…it just makes me feel sick. I don’t want you to feel bad about wanting it, but I just can’t.”

“Why would I ask you to hit me?” Catelyn asked. “I don’t want you to do that either, Ned.”

Now Ned looked confused. “You don’t?”

“No, I don’t,” Catelyn said. “Why would you think that I did?”

“I…you left the book,” Ned said. “I thought you were trying to tell me something…”

“What book did I leave?” Catelyn asked. “You’re talking in riddles.”

“ _Fifty Shades of Grey_ ,” Ned said. “Didn’t you leave it on my desk?” And at last Catelyn began to understand.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Oh my god, I must have…that’s where it went…but Ned, I didn’t do it on purpose! I wasn’t trying to tell you anything.”

“Then what…” Ned began, and Catelyn groaned.

“Lysa lent it to me,” she explained. “I told her I really wasn’t interested, but you know how she is. She kept telling me how much she loved it and insisting that I would love it too, so finally I just took it. And then I must have…” She thought back to that afternoon. She’d come back from her sister’s house carrying the book, she knew, and then when she’d come into the house—oh, she’d picked up the mail! “The mail. There was some for you when I got home, and I went to leave it on your desk. And I must have put the book down and forgotten to pick it up again. I’ve been trying to figure out where I left it.” She groaned again. “I definitely wasn’t trying to tell you anything, Ned. Is that really what’s been bothering you?” And when he nodded, she added, “Well, I don’t want you to hit me, Ned, so you can stop worrying about it. And even if I did want you to, I would actually talk to you about it, not just leave some bad novel on your desk. You should know that.”

“I guess I should have,” Ned said. He looked relieved now. “But sometimes you do leave notes…”

She did sometimes leave notes on his desk, that was true. Notes detailing just what she wanted him to do to her that night. “Well, yes,” she said. “But I’m always direct. I don’t hint, Ned.” Even as she said it, though, she did see how the misunderstanding might have happened. “I’m sorry, Ned. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“That’s all right,” Ned said. “It wasn’t your fault. I did jump to conclusions a little.”

“You did,” Catelyn agreed. “Honestly, Ned, don’t you think I would have mentioned it before if I was interested in that kind of thing?”

“I don’t know,” Ned said. “I thought, you know, maybe you wanted to try something new. And with Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend…”

She knew that Ned really had been worried, but Catelyn couldn’t help starting to laugh. “Oh, Ned,” she managed to say through her laughter. “Can you imagine if…if you’d liked the idea and…and tried to get something together for Valentine’s Day? I can’t even imagine what I would have thought…” And then Ned was laughing with her, and she was laughing even harder because the whole idea was so ludicrous. The idea that she would use a book that she cared so little about that she couldn’t even remember what she’d done with it as a manual for their sex life. The idea that she would leave that book around in hopes that Ned would use it as inspiration for their Valentine’s Day plans. The idea that, even if this were something that she would do, she’d actually believe that Ned would be remotely interested. Neither of them was particularly kinky, but they did like to try different things sometimes; one thing that they’d tried had been having Ned tie her hands. It had been her idea, one that Ned had only agreed to after she’d assured him that she really wanted to do it and that it wouldn’t hurt her a bit. And although he’d tied them very lightly, and he hadn’t done anything to her beyond teasing and tantalizing her before making her come, and they’d done it many times now, and she’d always loved every second of it and he’d enjoyed it thoroughly too, Catelyn knew that there was still a part of Ned that worried that he might be hurting her. When he untied her, he always kissed her wrists very tenderly and asked her if she was all right. And he always held her especially close afterwards, whispering about how much he loved her. That was one of the many things she loved about him—her sweet, gentle Ned—but if that was how he felt about doing something that caused her no pain whatsoever, the thought of him doing any of the things that might be contained in the pages of _Fifty Shades of Grey_ was more than a little absurd.

Fortunately, she didn’t have the slightest interest in those things herself. “Ned,” Catelyn said solemnly, once she’d stopped laughing, “I promise I will never make weird hints about what I want to do in bed. And I will never ask you to hit me for Valentine’s Day.”

“Well, thank you,” Ned said. His voice was just as solemn as hers, but there was a smile in his eyes as he kissed her. “And I promise…that in that case, we’ll do whatever you like for Valentine’s Day.”

“Now that’s quite a promise,” Catelyn said. “I like the sound of that.”

“What would you like to do?” Ned asked.

“Hmm…I think I should show you,” Catelyn said. “I promised I wouldn’t hint, after all.”

Ned smiled at her as she moved to straddle him. “You’re in charge, Mrs. Stark.”

Lysa could keep her _Fifty Shades of Grey_. As for Catelyn, she couldn’t imagine anything sexier than what was happening right now, than the expression on Ned’s face when he looked at her, than the feel of him as their bodies moved together.


End file.
